July 7, 2026 Understanding the One-Time Utility Adjustment Petition Workshop

Okay, thank you for joining for the one-time utility adjustment petition process for utilities to be included in rent tenant focused workshop. Um, we are going to be skipping the Spanish interpretation um just for the recording. Um and thank you for joining. Um, so we are in the midst of the one-time utility adjustment petition process. Um this was initiated because under the Community Stabilization and Fair Rent Act, the definition of rent includes utilities and there are certain stipulations around what is allowed um what types of rent increases are allowed, the cadence of those rent increases um and the way that utilities fluctuate month-to-month is not allowed under that law. So many tenants pay utilities separately from their rent and directly to the landlord or third-party billing system such as uh Conservice. Um so that monthly fluctuation wouldn't be allowed under the law and this process, the one-time utility adjustment petition process, is to phase out those non-submetered utilities that are being paid to a landlord and incorporate that amount [clears throat] into a tenant's rent. This is just to note for only fully covered units under the CSFRA. Um you're able to find out if your unit is covered under the CSFRA on our website. There's a map where you can type in the address. Um so it's only for covered units. So what type of utilities are included in this definition of rent? Any utility charges that are paid by the tenant directly to the landlord or through a third-party billing service. So generally what that looks like is water, sewer, and trash, but sometimes uh electricity and gas is also included in this if there's common space utilities that are electric and gas that the tenants are paying for, such as like a pool or something like that. Or in some rare cases, the units are not sub-metered for gas and electricity. So, something like PG&E, if you're paying directly to them, that would be exempt from this process. So, the Rental Housing Committee updated the regulations and stated that starting March 1st, 2024, the use of rubs is no longer allowed. So, the total rent must include all utilities. So, for any tenancies that started on March 1st or onward, they would have to include utilities in rent. Um, if that is not the case, if it was a tenancy that started prior to March 1st, 2024, that's when this one-time utility adjustment process would begin. So, what is the one-time utility adjustment petition? Basically, it's a process we're going through to assign an amount of money that a landlord can add to the total tenant's rent, so a fixed amount. This will prevent fluctuation that generally happens with utilities, kind of seasonally, often times. So, the outcome of the one-time utility adjustment petition process would be that your current rent plus a separate utility adjustment would be added, and that would be your total rent amount. And landlords have to file a petition with our office by deadlines that have already passed to be allowed to qualify for this process. And it's the only time that this is allowed, so if they did not submit it, they would not be allowed to add any amount, and going forward, it would be assumed that utilities are included. So to calculate this utility adjustment, our office is going through a lot of information for all of the different units or properties. So we've taken in utility bills, common area facility information, and general unit information such as room count, if units have kitchens, living rooms, etc. And we're compiling all of this information and we have a calculation that the rental housing committee has approved to lead to what the amount is for each unit. So it's a pretty lengthy process. We're quite in the middle of it right now. So I'm going to walk through the different steps that we are taking and what the landlord steps are so you can get a sense of what has been happening and how tenants are involved and can engage in the process. So a landlord submits the property wide petition form, which is something that we created and they put all of the information into. Next we are reviewing those petitions in order of receiving them. So generally we're going through the larger properties first. We review the petition for completeness, make sure all of the utility bills and the information provided in this big workbook are adding up, make sure everything looks accurate and then if complete we let them know that it's finished and that we approved that step and then the landlord will serve the tenants the petition. At the same time city staff will send a notice of filing to tenants that includes a tenant response form. So if there's anything that's inaccurate in the petition they can let us know. And that initiates a 30-day tenant response period. Oh, go ahead Alexander.

Oh no, I saw a notification that you wanted me to speak and uh I guess like I do have one thought. I thought. It's like um um So first of all, I love this whole concept. Like I think uh utilities should be rolled up in the rent and takes uh wind out of the sails of not PG&E. Um my question is like uh what about all the other utilities like when it comes to as you said we cover water, gas, and electricity, which is great. What about like you know, garbage that's managed by the city? I'm I'm guessing. Um what are the utilities that would not be covered like you know, in this uh uh adjustment?

Yeah, so garbage would be included in this process as well. So um generally water, sewer, trash, gas, and electricity are the the utilities that this process covers. Something like, you know, Wi-Fi, um maybe like cable, those types of utilities are outside of the purview of what the um the regulations say. So like at at this time that's not something that we're able to kind of regulate or facilitate any sort of process, but um beyond yeah, the the five utilities that I just mentioned, we can't as city staff do anything at this time, but yeah. Does that answer your question?

It does. Um I just have a follow-up like you know, question of curiosity. For affordable housing uh uh like you know, establishments run by the city like you know, would Wi-Fi potentially be considered like a utility for those properties or would that still be separate? I'm just uh

You know, I I don't want to give incorrect information. I'm truthfully not sure how they manage Wi-Fi at those properties. I think it's likely property to property dependent.

Okay, very well. Thank you.

Yeah. Okay, so um during the tenant response period, you're going to receive multiple pieces of information in the mail. Um you'll receive the tenant response form from our office, which will have a unique ID. And then you're going to receive a PDF version of the workbook that your landlord submitted with all of the information. Um this process we're actually in the process of sort of transitioning away from the PDF workbook. And if you're watching this video, you might actually be receiving a document that has just the specific information from your unit, but we're still in the process of changing that. Um so for now, tenants will receive a PDF packet that is the workbook, the petition, and any any additional information. Um And what we need from you, the tenants, is for you to review the petition information and make sure the information about your unit is accurate because the amount of rooms in each unit changes what the amount uh the utility adjustment is for your specific unit. Um you have 30 days to respond to that also if you disagree with any information. Um and then this just kind of shows the current piece that you'll the things that you'll be receiving, but again, this might be changing shortly. So after the tenant response period, um staff will review the petition again and any tenant response or tenant responses to make sure that everything is accurate. If um something, you know, the tenant response changed something, which we've had in the past, some mistakes that have been, you know, administrative errors that have been caught, um that can change the outcome of the petition process for all of the units, so it's really helpful when tenants respond. Um we may request additional information such as like a lease or something along those lines. Um So we'll do a final review of the calculations and everything. Uh um Um Make any edits that are needed. Um and then what we're going to do is take the average utility charges from each unit. So, for the same period of time that uh we were looking at the utility bills, what we'll do is look at how much were was each tenant actually charged through the ratio utility billing system. So, then we'll compare those two and see is the amount that we are assigning that unit specifically, is it higher than what they had been paying previously or lower? And some of those differences come in just the difference in the calculations. Neither are specifically based on the usage because there's no submeters for these types of utilities. And so, it's yeah, just a different approach to the calculation. So, inherently there's going to be a little difference in um how much people are assigned. So, next we will be sending the landlord and then also the tenants a notice of final determination, which will state the final amount that you will be assigned. Um as you can see, it'll say if it's a downward or an upward adjustment. And you will be able to review the utility the like actual utility amounts that you paid to make sure that that's accurate as well. Um And so, depending on if the utility adjustment is higher or lower than what you've been previously paying, this will change when that adjustment can be implemented. So, if your utility adjustment is a downward adjustment, so it's less than what you had been pri- previously paying um through rubs, then that has to go into effect basically as soon as administratively possible. So, the landlord has about 60 days for that to go into effect. Kind of gets rounded up, but approximately 60 days. Um so, they have 30 days to send a rent decrease notice to the tenants. Um, and then after that there's 30 more days that will go into effect and then it will go into effect. So, once the one-time utility adjustment is added to the tenant's rent, they are no longer responsible for paying rubs, although there may be some prior month, like if you're billed in arrears, so if you're, you know, get the July bill a month after July, you may have a little bit of overlap, but beyond that you'll be not responsible for those rubs charges. If it's an upward adjustment, so the opposite, it's more than what you'd been previously paying, you the landlord cannot add that to your utility or to your rent until you're eligible for your next rent increase, which is 1 year after your prior rent increase. Um, so that wraps up the information about the utility adjustment petition process. If you need any additional assistance, um, have further questions, this is just a more, uh, another resource we offer. We have a housing help center for tenants where we have a legal aid organization that joins, community services agency, which has various resources for the community. Um, staff will be there to assist with any, um, other questions that you might have, such as habitability concerns, interest in filing a petition for decrease in housing services. If there's any of those things are applicable, we can help you out there. Um, and then sometimes we have affordable housing provider, um, House Keys also joins us every so often at the help center. And that's it. If you need to get in touch with us, this is our contact information. Do you have any final questions, Alexander?

Uh, yeah. Uh, thanks, Amanda, for all of that. That was fantastic

and really detailed. Um, so I did have um one or two items and then like uh we can call it quits. Uh So, um I found found that it was very uh interesting and also very uh exciting that um tenants are no longer responsible for utility adjustments. Like you know, that's good. But like you know, you mentioned something about um adjustments for like you know, costs in general. And even though like uh we're expecting uh annual rent increases for like you know, landlord, but is there a possibility like you know, with this adjustment and with involvement by the city that we could be looking at maybe lower rents or lower like you know, uh costs to things potentially?

Yeah, so per the CSFRA, the Community Stabilization and Fair Rent Act, there's no mechanism beyond the petition process to decrease rents. And so, generally like we release the annual general adjustment every year, which caps rent um between 2% and 5% every single year. Um the instances where rent would potentially be lowered is if you were for example experiencing a reduction in housing services. So, if you, you know, had a pool or like a parking spot or something like that and that was in your original tenancy, but then that was removed later, you could file a petition with the um the office and then we could decrease or there there would be a formal process where a hearing officer would hear the case and potentially um require a decrease in rent. Um generally the city can't necessarily initiate like a massive you know, a a like blanket rent decrease. That's not within our capacity.

Yeah. Okay, fair enough. So, um and then I guess my uh my last question would be uh cuz it looks like you know, this this rule this law is or this rule is law uh up until 2024. So, like or from March 1st, 2024 onward.

Mhm.

Um so, like do you have any information on how this would affect like, you know, uh developer, landlord, and uh future renters' relationships with the new property coming up?

Yeah, so the the Community Stabilization and Fair Rent Act is only it doesn't apply to new buildings. So, it would be they are able to build the utilities as they will. We have no control over the um the rent increases um in those situations because they're not covered by our law. Um so, yeah, this it would not affect them.

Mhm. So, in other words, like, you know, new tenants from new buildings, like, you know, some of the stuff that's being built around town right now, this would not apply to any of those folks.

Yes. Yeah, that is correct.

Interesting. Okay. Well, that's it for me, Amanda. Thank you very much.

Okay. Wonderful. Thank you for joining us. I appreciate it.

All right. Have a good night.

Yeah, you too. Thank you, Alexander. Bye.

Bye. Have a

Thanks, Jason. Sorry you didn't come in or we didn't end up doing any interpretation. All right. Well, that concludes our presentation. So, thank you for listening.

Oh, sorry.

[laughter]

I was listening, but I should have found the

I can hear you good. Yeah.

Yeah.

No problem. Sorry that you um

okay.

Yeah, we didn't have any need for interpretation, but thank you for joining.

I'm in that Sorry, I got to shut my camera off. Um yeah, no, that's no problem. I mean, that happens, you know. So, it's just good to have the you know, have interpretation available just in

Totally. Just in case, yeah.

Okay.

Totally. Okay, well, thank you so

I don't think we've met before, so it was nice meeting you.

Yeah, I don't think so, either. Do you um work with MVP a lot?

Uh-huh. Yeah.

Okay.

This is the first time I've done one of these uh workshops, but yeah, we do uh I do a lot of city council meetings.

Oh, awesome.

And addition hearings, that kind of stuff, so.

Okay, super cool. That's great. Well, it's good to meet you. How long have you been with Mountain View?

About 3 years now.

Thanks. Awesome.

Yeah. So.

Cool.

Well, I will see you next time. Bye.

Yeah, thanks so much. I appreciate it. Good night.

Good night. Yeah.